Even the mannequins here have bigger boobs

Day 3 in Brazil. Empowered with out new bus knowledge (enter and pay in the back, exit in the front, push the red button to exit), we ventured into a bigger and better mall. First, we had to take a bus up (down?) Av. Jose Bastos. Naturally the magic red stop button didn't work and by the time we figured out that we had to pull on a string, we passed our parada. We walked back 2 blocks and found the other bus stop on Rua 13 de Maio near the Rectory of Universidade Federal de Ceara (UFC). After waiting for bus 75 for at least 30 minutes, we were on our way. Once the bus crossed an overpass, we suddenly found ourselves in a new Fortaleza. This Fortaleza has tall building and stores bigger than a garage, hospitals and specialty clinics, and of course it had the biggest mall that Galina had ever seen (Mall of America is still bigger although not as pretty - J), complete with water fountains, tricked-out elevators and a food court on every floor (complete with diet coke aka coca cola litsch (sound it out)). So an average neighborhood (like ours) doesn´t have hot water and the favelas often don´t have proper sanitation, but a world-class mall is readily available to those who can afford it. Is there something wrong with this picture? Nontheless, walking into the mall, we instantly felt a lot better about spending the next 2 months in Fortaleza (yea, yea, we are snobby Americans and we like diet coke). We ended up making 2 valuable purchases: hot dresses and a Fortaleza street guide). Now we just need to go back to those huge shoe stores. The only down side of the mall was that even the mannequins had bigger boobs. We shouldn´t have to feel inferior to the mannequins, too!

This adventure included one other amusing detail: a man at a bus stop asking Joana for her cell number. It was the first time in history that an `I dont have one´ excuse was actually the truth.
Raj, he was quite a catch, he was wearing pants AND a shirt, he even provided his own paper (borrowed from a girl standing next to us on the bus stop).

G